Description: A large-scale AI-assisted financial scam, allegedly operated from Tbilisi, Georgia, used deepfake celebrity endorsements and manipulated victims through fraudulent trading dashboards that simulated high returns. Call center agents, trained with AI-driven persuasion tactics, convinced individuals to invest more money while falsely promising profits. Many reportedly lost their life savings, with the total losses reaching $35M across more than 6,000 victims.
Editor Notes: Note on the timeline: These scams began sometime in May 2022, but The Guardian's investigation was published on 03/05/2025.
Tools
New ReportNew ResponseDiscoverView History
The OECD AI Incidents and Hazards Monitor (AIM) automatically collects and classifies AI-related incidents and hazards in real time from reputable news sources worldwide.
Entities
View all entitiesAlleged: Unknown deepfake technology developers , Third-Party AI Service Providers for Call Center Training and Fraudulent Trading Platform Developers developed an AI system deployed by Scammer Operatives in Georgia, Bulgaria, Cyprus, and Spain , Meri Shotadze , Golden Currencies , Akaki Kevkhishvili , AK Group and AdmiralsFX, which harmed Small business owners , Retirees seeking investment opportunities , People with neurological disorders , Individuals deceived by celebrity deepfake impersonations , Financial professionals , Financial fraud victims and Elderly investors.
Incident Stats
Incident ID
962
Report Count
2
Incident Date
2025-03-05
Editors
Daniel Atherton
Incident Reports
Reports Timeline
Ben Fogle was not a happy man.
“Not sure I need to highlight this,” the broadcaster posted on Instagram during the spring of 2024, “but the deepfake of me from [ITV’s] This Morning … circulating on Facebook [and] advertising crypto is a sca…
- "Regular" clones are so 2023: With AI-generated passports, deepfakes and websites, fraudsters are running sophisticated, large-scale, ultra-realistic scams.
- "It's a speed game", said Exante's Head of Compliance, "You need AI tools to copy …
Variants
A "variant" is an AI incident similar to a known case—it has the same causes, harms, and AI system. Instead of listing it separately, we group it under the first reported incident. Unlike other incidents, variants do not need to have been reported outside the AIID. Learn more from the research paper.
Seen something similar?
Similar Incidents
Did our AI mess up? Flag the unrelated incidents
Similar Incidents
Did our AI mess up? Flag the unrelated incidents